


Most Merciful and Stern

by sevenofspade



Category: Emerald City (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:07:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenofspade/pseuds/sevenofspade
Summary: Dorothy tamed the tempest. Her new Cardinal sisters come to visit.





	Most Merciful and Stern

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alamorn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alamorn/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this!

Dorothy braved the Lake and the Sharpness, tamed the elements and became the Witch of the East.

She did not expect that to be the hard part. But now she was soaking in the most luxurious bath ever so that was nice, even if a part of her wondered if the Sharpness could get in the tub with her. The tub was more a pool than a tub and was certainly large enough. The room looked more like the inside of gigantic hammam made of stone lace than it did a bathroom, but instead of heat, it was the perfect temperature of warmth. She felt herself dozing off.

Someone knocked on the door. A flicker of anger laced through her; the gauntlets materialised on her hands. Couldn't she get just one moment to herself?

"Yes?" Dorothy asked.

"Dorothy, the Witch of the West is here," Lucas said. Behind him Dorothy could hear Sullivan list out the Witch's titles from behind the door as she dressed. She wore the red dress from the ceremony and her leather jacket on top of it, all the better to hide her gun. The weight of it in the small of her back was a comfort now that she was in Oz. She'd never liked guns back in Kansas, but Oz was different and dangerous.

The door slammed open. It banged against the wall, bounced off, then banged again. Dorothy tugged her jacket so the shoulders fell properly and turned around.

"So you're my sister's apprentice," the witch said. She had pale skin and a tangled mess of black hair that fell in her eyes. She raised a hand, pointing at Dorothy; her fingers were stained black as night. "She's _never_ mentioned you." She was snarling.

"She thought it best to keep me a secret," Dorothy said, repeating what she'd told Sullivan. He had bought it, perhaps the witch would as well. She readied the gauntlets and stared straight into the witch's eyes. They were bloodshot and her pupils dilated -- was she on drugs? Dorothy quickly went through everything she had and how best to deal with an OD. They had poppies in Oz, so it was probably opium, if it was anything she knew. Let it be something she knew, something she could heal. She could not take another death, not so very near to going home.

"I was very close to my sister," the witch said. She threw herself backwards on the couch that was, for some reason, in the bathroom. "She was coming to tell me a secret. Was it you?"

Dorothy nodded. She raised her chin. As far as the witch knew Dorothy had every right to be here.

The witch stood. She half-stumbled as she did, but she made her way to embrace Dorothy without falling. Dorothy tensed.

"Relax. You're family now, East." The hug was awkward and the witch definitely smelled of opium. Tea and opium.

"Dorothy," she said, pulling out of the hug. "My name is Dorothy."

"West."

"Vessel of Truth and Solace --"

West waved a hand, dispelling the sound. "No need for that, Dorothy. You're a Cardinal Witch now." West straightened her spine and etched a curtsy. "Let me be the one to welcome you in Mother South's stead. You must have questions."

"Where is the Witch of the North?" Dorothy asked.

"Glinda?" West said it like all the eyerolls in the world were not enough. "On the way from her frozen wasteland, I imagine. She'll offer to be your friend; don't trust her, she's colder than ice."

Dorothy refrained from asking why she should trust West.

It didn't matter. She was the Witch of the East now, Mistress of the Weather. Soon enough she would be able to make her own tornado and go back home. Would the weather unravel without her as it had without East? She could not wreck such destruction on Oz.

"Where can I find an apprentice?" Dorothy asked.

West laughed. It was a terrible sound, even before it echoed sharply off the walls. "Mother South is dead. There will be no more witches in Oz. We are the last."

Dorothy nodded. Her stomach was lead. Murder was one thing, especially in self-defence; near-genocide was another.

"Dorothy," Lucas said.

Dorothy and West turned to face him. There was a young girl clinging to his leg. She was shaking in fear. No, not shaking. Vibrating. Dorothy knelt in front of the girl to be at her level. West seemed petrified.

"Hello," Dorothy told the girl. "I'm Dorothy. Who are you?"

"She's a witch," West said. She crashed to her knees next to the girl and brushed a black-stained finger against the girl's cheek. "A new witch!"

"But Mother South is dead," Dorothy said. West had literally just said that.

The little girl shook her head fiercely, no-no-no.

"Glinda." West all but spat the name. Her cheeks were wet.

The little girl nodded. The movement revealed her ears and whatever the fuck that was inside of them. Dorothy rushed to the girl's side and tried to look at the things in her ears. 

The girl vibrated even harder. The couch turned to stone. Dorothy pulled back. The girl's vibrating slowed, but she burrowed deeper in Lucas' side.

"She hid my mother from me!" West was still fuming. The couch exploded, pieces landing into the bathpool.

Dorothy could sympathise, but West was scaring the girl. Dorothy blasted her into the wall. West fell and looked up with murder in her eyes. Sullivan drew his sword from where he'd entered at the sound. The girl pulled at Lucas' coat.

"I'll go," Lucas said. He picked up the girl and left.

West hooked her fingers in the air and threw Dorothy up. She twisted a hand.

A horn sounded.

West dropped Dorothy. "Glinda. She's come to welcome you as a Cardinal Witch."

"I'll be sure to ask her about Mother South," Dorothy said.

West smiled and faded into mist, hiding from Dorothy as much as Glinda. 

Dorothy touched the gun in the small of her back, gauntlets clicking against the safety, and the Witch of the East prepared to meet with the Witch of the North.


End file.
